Ornamental tubing and method of producing same.



0. J. DOLAN & J. P. KIERNAN.

PATENTED 00T. 24, 1905.

ORNAMENTAL TUBING AND METHOD OP PRODUGING SAME.

LIPLIATION FILED 0OT.19. 1904.

WITNESSES:

ATTORNEY WNITEI) Specification of Letters Patent.

CHRISTCPHER J'. DCLAN AND JAMES P. KIERNAN, CF DERBY, CONNECTICUT.

OR-NAIV'IENTAL TUBING AND METHOD OF PRODUCING SAME.

Patented Oct. 24, 1905.

Application filed October 19,1904. Serial No., 229,113.

To all whom, t 'may concern,.-

Be it known that we, CHRISTOPHER J. DoLAN and JAMES l. KIERNAN, citizens of the United States, residing at Derby, county of New Haven, State of Connecticut. have invented a new and useful Ornamental Tubing and Method of Producing' Same, of which the following is a specication.

Our invention has for its object to produce ornamented metal tubing adapted for general use, and especially adapted for use in the manufacture of metal bedsteads and other articles of furniture. It is of course well understood that at the present time metal furniture is being manufactured and sold in enormous quantities, the lower grades being made of steel tubing and enameled and the higher grades made of brass or brass-covered .tubing and finished by polishing' and then lacquering to protectthe polish. In use the lacquer quickly wears away in places and the unprotected brass tarnishes, which mars to a greater or less extent the linish and attractiveness of the bedstead or other article of furniture. The trade calls for a finish that shall be neither extremely bright nor dull, but shall be novel, rich, and generally attractive in appearance and shall be durable and thoroughly able to withstand the ordinary wear of use without showing' its effect like ordinary polished tubing.

In order to provide tubing for high-grade bedsteads and other articles of furniture having a finish that will not wear off and will fully meet the requirements of the trade without adding appreciably to the cost of manufacture, wehave devised the novel ornamented tubing' and method of producing the same, which we will now describe, referring to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specilication, and using reference characters to indicate the several parts.

Figures l and 2 are .elevations of pieces of tubing indicating the ornamentation produced by our novel method, and Fig. 3 is an elevation of the blunt-pointed abrading-wheel by which the ornamentation is produced. Fig. 4 represents a detail plan View very much enlarged of a portion of a tube ornamented aecordiug to our invention. Fig. 5 represents a section on line 5 5, Fig. 4L.

The operation of ornamentation consists in removing. in places the polish from the conveX surface of the tubing by abrading or scratching thereon contiguous curved lines, the actual appearance of the ornamentation being practically impossible to accurately illustrate by means of a drawing and cau therefore only be indicated. The desired ornamental effect is produced by means of a blunt-pointed abrading-wheel rotated in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of the surface to be oruameuted. rlhe abradingwheel, which we have indicated by 10, may be made of sea-horse leather, felt, or any suitable material. The blunt point of-the abrading-wheel is covered with glue, andr emery or any suitable abradant is applied to the glue and caused to adhere to the wheel, which in use is rotated at a high velocity--for example, two thousand iive hundred to three thousand revolutions per minute. The tubes to be ornamented are polished in the ordinary or any preferred manner, and the ornamentation is effected by moving them while intermittently in contact with the blunt point of the abrading-wheel, the particles of the emery or the equivalent abradant producing' individual or independent scratches in the polished surface.

1l indicates tubing, and l2 ornamentation produced thereon by means of our novel method. It will of coursel be obvious that the ornamentation produced will be variable in appearance and never twice alike, but always of the saine general character, the ornamentation being produced by lines which are always curved, lie approximately parallel, and are less than a full circle. The ornamentation may be in the form of broken stripes and either longitudinal, circumferential, spiral or waving' upon the surface of the tube, or the form of stripes may be avoided and the ornamentation consist of patches of curved lines or scratches. The etlect of the abrading1 is simply to remove the polish by scratched curved lines at the portions of the surface of the tube that engage the blunt point of the abrading wheel, disclosing the uupolished metalbeueath. If preferred, a similar ornamental eifect may be produced on oxidized tubes, the only variation in the process be- .ing that after polishing the tubes are dipped in an oxidizing solution which oxidizes the surface. The action of the blunt point of the abrading-wheel is simply to grind off the oxidized surface instead of a bright surface and disclose the pure unoxidized metal beneath. After ornamenting the surface of the tubes IOO IOS

they may be dipped in lacquer in the usual way to protect the surface.

It will be understood that owing to the fact that the scratching is produced on a curved surface and by a scratching-tool rotating on an axis at substantially a right angle to the axis of the tube the result will be the production of curved lines which are less than complete circles. In other words, the ornamental effect is the result of a series of independent or broken curved lines, the length or direction of the series being' irregular and intermittent according to the course of the abrading-tool over or along the curved surface being operated upon. To produce the effects such as the drawings attempt to illustrate, the tool is of course intermittently applied-that is, its blunt end is applied and moved over an irregular path and then removed and then again applied. The effect as a whole is therefore novel.

To produce the ornamentation described, the end of the blunt-pointed abrading-tool is caused to travel over the convex su rface while intermittently or irregularly7 in contact therewith. At each point where the tool touches the surface a group or series of concentric curved lines is formed in the said surface owing to the rapidity of rotation of the tool, and each curved line is deepest at its midlength, owing to the plane of movement of each scratching particle of the tool across the convex surface, and of course each line runs off or vanishes at the surface equidistant from its mid-length. ln other words` each curved line forms only an arc of a circle, the ends of said line being exceedingly ine where they terminate at the surface, the deepest portion being practically midway of the ends. The groups or series of concentric curved lines may be, as indicated roughly in the drawings, caused to produce on said surface various patterns 0r rows of groups or series, according to the course of the tool relatively to the surface.

rlhe detail form of the curved lines produced according to this invention is substantially shown in Figs. 4 and 5, which, as ha stated, are on a very greatly enlarged sc order that the shapes or forms of the cu lines l2 may be perceptible to the eye. It to be understood, however, that the amoun of curvature and the length and depth of the lines will depend upon the size of the tool employed and the force with which it is pressed against the curved surface that is being ornamented. Moreover, the lines 12 will vary somewhat according to whether they are caused by abrading particles more or less distant from the center of the end of the rotat- 6 ing tool.

Having thus described our invention, we claim l. The method of ornamenting convex metallic surfaces consisting in iirst polishingsthe said surface and -then causing the end of a blunt-pointed rotating abrading-tool to travel irregularly in contact with said surface, whereby said surface is provided with irregular groups 0r series of concentric curved lines 7C each of which is deepest'at its mid-length.

2. rlhe method of ornamenting convex metallic surfaces, consisting in rst polishing the said surface, then oxidizing said surface` and then causing the end of a blunt-pointed rotating abrading-tool to tra-vel irregularly in contact with said surface, whereby said surface is provided with irregular groups or series of concentric curved lines each of which is deepest at its mid-length.

3. As an article of manufacture, a metallic body having a polished and lacquered convex surface provided with irregular groups or series of concentric curved lines each of which is deepest at its mid-length and having its ends running o or vanishing at the surface equidistant from said mid-length.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures in presence of two witnesses. y

CHRISTOPHER J. DOLAN. JAMES P. KIERNAN. /Vitnesses:

I. C. MEYERS, HOWARD B. PEcK. 

